


The Edge Of The World

by slushanddusk



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Blood and Violence, Character Death, Clay | Dream - Freeform, Deity Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Dream Smp, Fanfiction, Friendship/Love, Internal Conflict, M/M, Minecraft, No Plot/Plotless, Oblivious GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Possibly Unrequited Love, dream - Freeform, dream team, georgenotfound - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28123863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slushanddusk/pseuds/slushanddusk
Summary: Dream stared out at the sunset, his hands cold.  George was asleep, he had scared Sapnap off, and Bad was having internet problems.  He sat at the edge of the field, his head resting on his knees as his slitted purple and green eyes stared out, unfocused.  Behind him, the house he had started building sat unfinished.  It beckoned him to continue it, but instead Dream sat there alone. Empty.  Wanting to explore the edge of the world.  Wanting to fight something, to stab something and just scream.  His mind whirled every time he logged into their server, and although Dream had hoped this would be a calm and happy place, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about this land.  There was something strange lurking in the darkness and under the ground.Something that was slowly eating away at Dream's mind.--On a day where Dream has nothing planned, he decides to create a new Minecraft world.  After only a few hours, things start to change.  The longer the server goes on, the more tensions grow, and the more frantic Dream becomes.[ The Edge Of The World ]- an improvisation novel
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 50





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tbhyourelame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tbhyourelame/gifts).



> Welcome!
> 
> This is an improvisation novel, so most of the plot is made up as I go along. It's quite strange and I am nervous to post this, but hopefully people enjoy it! I'm trying to make the writing and spelling as good as I can, but it's likely there will be a few mistakes and I apologize. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> \--
> 
> I was inspired to create this story by heat waves. Tbhyourelame is an amazing writer and an inspiration to us all. I'm only writing on this site and posting my stories here because of heat waves, so if you haven't already seen it you should check it out.

The world was still. 

Nothing moved, no one stirred, the stars glistened in the night sky up above. The darkness was a blanket over the lands, silencing the lands. The trees swayed in the silent wind, the clouds drifting over the moon and sky up above. It was eerie, the strange night time silence, but it was oddly calming at the same time. Despite the fact that it may be scary, there was a strange warm feeling in the air. A nostalgic feeling that no one would have been able to shake had they been awake. However, the world was asleep as the night crept on, the moon rising in the sky slowly but surely.

Lightning struck the ground.

It was sudden, silent, and unexpected. Thunder clapped overhead, the first noise of the night echoing through the lands. A figure formed in the shadows, stepping away from where the lightning had struck.

It was a person- a human. Their hands rested gently in their pockets as they silently stepped through the forest, footsteps quiet as a fox. Animals stirred in the woods, their ears perking in curiosity and a strange nervousness. They were unsure what to expect, and so they fled as the human stepped through the woods, silently surveying the land around them. They wore a cloak, their hair blowing gently in the soft breeze that swayed the trees around them. The cloak was clasped together at the chest with a chipped black and white piece, and the human's arms and hands were bandaged, although no signs of injury were visible.

They stood in the forest, staring out through the trees at the world they knew was beyond the darkness. Silently, they tugged their cloak tighter and clipped the clasp back on as they started to head through the pines. Their dark boots slipped over the ground noiselessly as they walked. The sky above them was still pitch black, and so was the forest. Clouds continued to brush against the sky, although colors soon began to paint the world. 

The human continued walking, nearing the edge of the forest and they grinned, their pale green and purple slitted eyes glistening as they stepped into the sunlight. Fields stretched out in front of them and they spread their arms as the early morning light began to flood the world with color. A grin spread on their face. A strange expression that was very unfamiliar to the inhabitants this new world. 

The next thing that one could hear was laughter.

It was a cold, sharp thing. Something that sounded almost scary to anything that heard it. This human was a strange one, a curious and strange one, but they were also a terrifying one.

Out of nowhere, the cloaked person swiped two fingers up in the air, pulling up a glowing screen in front of them, and they tapped a few buttons as they smiled, their eyes still gleaming in the sunlight as they stared down at the screen and then continued pressing buttons. A few seconds later, a strange ringing noise emitted from the glowing tab. 

Out of nowhere, voices began to chatter, the sound coming straight from the screen, two guys talking.

"Georgeeeeee, give me a kiss," one of them pleaded, and the other laughed somewhat awkwardly before replying.

"No Sapnap, what the heck," George laughed, and the cloaked figure smiled at how their friends were acting so childish. "Hey, Dream, why did you call us?" he added afterwards, and the two on the call fell silent as they waited for the figure's response.

"I have a new world," Dream said simply, flicking a button on the screen that pulled up another tab, and he clicked a few more of the glowing buttons until a scene could be seen, an image of the field he was staring out at as the grass rustled in the wind. 

George gasped, and Dream could practically hear Sapnap smile, "Want us to come on?" He asked, and Dream smiled softly at the happiness he could hear in his friend's voice.

"You want to test something? I have some coding we can work on!" George said, although he didn't sound as excited about coding as he had about just the world in general, and Dream stood there for a second, staring out at the world around him before he spoke.

"Nah, let's just play. Like we used to. No goals, no coding, just a normal game. Just a new world to explore. Just life to live."

Sapnap laughed, and it sounded like he was dying. "Oh my god Dream you sounded like some weird actor there, it was so dumb." Dream wheezed as he listened to Sapnap, and George was silent in the background of their conversation before the British 24 year old began to laugh as well.

"Alright, alright." Dream said when he could breath again, although he was still chuckling slightly. "You guys want to head on now?" 

Both were silent before George offered up his answer, "I can play for a few hours. There's nothing to do anyway, the morning is always boring."

"Oh- shit, the morning?" Dream yelped as he flicked up to see the time. "Holy- it's like 4am! What the hell?" He exclaimed, freaking out while Sapnap and George laughed like crazy on the call. He felt a little embarrassed, staying up that late and not even realizing it, but these were his friends, so Dream laughed along with them.

"I can play if you guys are going to," Sapnap said with a yawn, although Dream frowned at him.

"Sapnap, it's like 3am for you too. You can't stay up that late either," George chided him, although Sapnap huffed back in clear annoyance, causing George to quickly break his motherly act and burst into laughter.

Dream grinned as he listened to them bicker for a little bit before trying to settle them down. "Alright guys, come on. Join already," he said happily, quickly copying something and sending it to his two friends in their group chat.

For a moment the call was silent, and the world was quiet too as the sun continued it's rise, almost at it's peak in the sky. Dream stared around the world and snapped a photo. It wouldn't be this peaceful when George and Sapnap came on, that was for sure.

Almost as if his thoughts had conjured them, two bolts of lightning struck the ground near the area Dream had came from. The green-cloaked man flicked the glowing tab away until it was gone, and turned his back to the sun while he left the fields, his eyes loosing their purple tint as he entered the forest once more.

He leapt over a few branches as he called out to his friends, hoping they would hear him if they were nearby. Dream ran through the forest blinking as he scanned the woods. "Ohhhh Georgeee! Oh Sapnap!" He yelled with a goofy grin on his face while he searched, and eventually he ran straight into the two of them as he vaulted over a fallen log, and he skidded to a halt right before he crashed into Sapnap.

"What the hell?!" Sapnap yelled angrily at Dream, and he laughed, happy that Sapnap was so lively even at this time of night.

George was still, a flashing screen beside him. Before Dream had a chance to read what was on the screen, George shook out his head and the flashing screen disappeared. "Sorry, I had to get a snack," He said, and Sapnap groaned.

"Why do you have to say anything about _food_?" Sapnap whined, his face in his hands. "I'm _starving_." 

Dream laughed, wiping his eyes slightly as he smiled at his friends, his gaze trailing out towards the trees as they bickered continuously while the sun began to set and Dream tried to settle down George and Sapnap again.

The argument about food had quickly turned into an even stranger one about who got to see Dream's face and therefore who was better. Dream sighed and rubbed his cheek slightly, feeling a little nervous and awkward with the conversation at hand.

"I used to Facetime with Dream all the time," Sapnap boasted, a smug grin on his face as George glared at him, although a sly smile was spreading on the pale skinned British man's face. 

" _Used_ to? What happened Sapnap, Dreamy doesn't like you any more is that it?" He taunted him, and Sapnap let out a loud, long groan.

"I'm too tired for this," He whined, and Dream laughed as he walked over and patted both his friends on the shoulders, pulling them closed together until he shoved Sapnap and George into each other to force them to hug, and Sapnap to let out a yelp as he crashed into George.

"Apologize," Dream commanded them, and a little flashing microphone icon with a slash through it popped up next to Dream as he muted himself to let out a loud yawn while his two friends apologized. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and then nudged his friends gently. "Come on, I'll show you the fields," he said happily, and Sapnap nodded, George following with wide, excited eyes.

They headed through the forest, Dream's soft footsteps making barely any noise while in comparison George and Sapnap crashed through the undergrowth. Dream carefully led them back towards that field he had shown them. Finally, they managed to pick their way through the trees and bushes, and the light of the setting sun shone bright in Dream's eyes. When his friends walked out into the field, they stared as the cream stalks of wheat waved gently in the breeze. 

Sapnap looked at Dream, staring into his pale green and purple eyes. "Dream . . . ?" he murmured softly, staring at his friend's strange eyes. They looked eerie, picking up the light from the sunset and reflecting it in a strange way.

Dream looked down slightly to meet eyes with Sapnap, staring into his friend's dark eyes. George looked at the two of them nervously, but the instant he saw what Sapnap was looking at, the British man gasped. Dream's hands clenched at his sides slightly. He was fast enough to outrun his friends if they attacked him, so it would be ok-

 _What?_ Dream thought suddenly, cutting off his other train completely. _Why am I thinking about running? Why would I run? These are my friends._ Dream's hands flew to his face, and he squeezed his eyes shut. His head ached, and he was exhausted. With a shaky hand, he pulled up a few tabs and checked the time again. 5am. Of course he was exhausted, and when he ended up looking towards Sapnap again, he could tell that his friend was tired too.

"Sapnap, let's get some sleep," Dream said, his voice uncharacteristically quiet and shaky. George had his hand on Dream's shoulder, but at his friend's words, it slipped off and Dream pulled up a few tabs, swiping through the glowing screens before he disappeared into a thin cloud of pale purple particles. 

He took off his headset.


	2. Flowers & Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! 
> 
> I have no idea where this story is even going, but here's the next chapter! I really hope you enjoy even though I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to introduce more of the plot, but that's how improv works right?? Anyway I've been writing so much recently, this story is being spedrun like there's no tomorrow.
> 
> I still hope you guys like it though, enjoy!

Dream was back online the next evening. It was around 8pm when he messaged his friends, pulling up tab after tab to see if they would come back online the next day. Would they message him back at all after how he had seemed so cold and distant at the end of their little trip? Dream wasn't sure what to expect, and he fiddled with his hands silently, flicking the bandages that were tied around them with an absent mind.

He lay on his back in the fields that he had logged out in the night before, staring up at the blue sky as the sun rotated around the world. Outside it was dark but in the golden fields the lands were shining and beautiful. Clouds drifted gently across the sky, like giant marshmallows floating in a blue hot chocolate soup. Animals pranced through the forests and slipped through the trees, grazing on wheat and grass in the plains and resting under the calming sunlight like Dream was.

A ping in his ear startled him out of his calm daze, and he instantly pulled up a tab, praying to god that it was George and Sapnap, but his growing excitement suddenly faltered when he realized it was Bad. _Why am I so off? This is wrong. I should feel happy that Bad messaged me,_ Dream thought, lowering his hands slightly as he stared up at the blue sky, the tab floating in front of his vision with blurry words he couldn't seem to make out.

Finally, his gaze shifted back to the words as they became readable once again, and he scanned over them. They read something like, _Hey Dream! I heard that you started a new server last night with George and Sapnap, I was wondering if I could come on too? Sapnap said something about having to go shopping for a while, and George said he was going to sleep about two hours ago._ At that line, Dream checked the time. It was 9:13, and he sighed slightly. It was around 2am for George now, and there was little chance of him waking up soon or still being awake. 

Dream cursed himself, shaking his head slightly at his stupidity. Why the hell would he try and get George on the server at this time? It was a bad time for George no matter what, and Dream should have known. 

He touched a hand to his forehead, feeling his cool fingers on his face and pulling in a deep breath before Dream turned his attention back to the message. _Anyway, I'd love to join the server! Message me back soon?_

Dream stared at the message for a while before he clicked a few tabs and began to furiously type out a reply, his fingers flying across the digital keys as he replied to his friend. _Oh thanks for telling me._ After rewriting the first line multiple times, that was the best that Dream could come up with. A loud sigh escaped his lips as he clicked send and watched the gray circle next to BadBoyHalo to change to a nice shade of green.

He continued typing as Bad's discord icon flashed yellow for a moment before returning to green. _You can join now if you want! Sapnap should be back soon, I can't imagine him enjoying shopping for that long._ Dream paused for a split second before he sent it and then fiddled with his tabs a little more. Finally, he swiped away the tabs and sat up, taking a soft breath before he hopped towards the forest and back towards the spawn.

When lightning struck the ground close to Dream, he whirled in the direction of it and sprinted through the forest to try and find his way towards where Bad was spawning in. When he did emerge from the bushes, he smiled at his friend, who was sitting on the ground playing with some flowers. The instant that Bad spotted Dream, he yelped and sprung to his feet. Bad was wearing his classic black hoodie lined with red and his little horns poked through the hood. His dark skin always made him look adorable, and Dream smiled.

"Hey Dream!" Bad cheered happily, smiling at his friend with the warmth of the sun. He seemed really excited and Dream smiled and patted his shorter friend on the shoulder softly. "What do you think we're going to do on this server?"

Dream stared off into the distance and hesitated while he thought about what the heck to say. "Um, I don't know . . ." he said, trailing off slightly at the end, still not really sure what exactly to do. "I think I have a nice place we can go though," he said, and then focused his pale green gaze on Bad again.

Bad gasped, looking at Dream with wide pale white and cream eyes. "Is it the field? George and Sapnap were talking about it earlier! They said it looked really pretty and I really want to see it," Bad said quickly, talking at a thousand words an hour. Dream laughed and stared to lead Bad out of the woods.

"Yeah, actually," He said with a soft smile that Bad couldn't see as he headed forwards. "I think the fields are relaxing, but that might just be my opinion," he added with a shrug, and glanced back and Bad to see what the demon would reply with, but like typical Bad, he was staring at some foxes with a look of joy upon his face. " _Bad,_ " Dream said, snapping his friend out of his animal obsession.

"Oh- Sorry!" Bad exclaimed, and he scrambled after Dream, almost tripping over a few of the tree roots and making Dream let out a laugh. His green cape fluttered softly in the breeze as he led Bad closer and closer to the fields. 

"I haven't actually explored past the fields," Dream said, his voice hinting at his curiosity. "I wonder what's past them. I hope there's a snow biome somewhere too, I think it would be nice to make a vacation house there," He said, staring up at the sky with joy in his green eyes. With a sidelong glance at Bad, he added, "For me and George of course."

That prompted laugher from Bad and a wheeze to escape Dream's own mouth. They paused for a moment as Dream doubled over. He wasn't quite sure why he was laughing so hard. Perhaps it was the fact that Bad was also laughing, but it may have had nothing to do with that. Joking about George was always pretty fun, especially when George was there to get all flustered about it.

"Ok, ok," Dream laughed, wiping his eyes before they kept walking. Bad smiled happily as he skipped along. Dream smiled at the slightly shorter man. He looked strangely demonic, but as he paused to pick up flowers from the ground, Dream couldn't help but think about how his friend acted exactly nothing like he looked. If his completely black skin and his dark clothes lined in red didn't give someone dark vibes, his horns would at unnerve them. But as Bad pushed the pale yellow and pastel orange flowers behind one ear, Dream's smile grew even wider.

As the sun began to lower, Dream checked the game time while they walked. It rapidly increased, but it was around 3pm in game. Flicking a little further through his glowing tabs, he checked the actual time. Almost 10pm by then, so it was around 3am for George. Dream sighed slightly, hoping it was quiet enough that Bad wouldn't hear him. Despite one of his friends being here, he still wished that George would come on. It was madness, it was idiotic, it was just plain rude. Rubbing his face silently as they walked along, he tried to ignore his urge to message George by listening to Bad's quiet humming.

"What song is that?" Dream asked Bad with a slight tilt of his head as they approached the end of the woods. 

"You are my sunshine," Bad said cheerfully with a bright smile at Dream. "Skeppy and I sang it on stream one time, it was really fun and I had the song stuck in my head since then."

Dream grinned. "Aw that's just like you Bad," he said with a little laugh, which left Bad staring at Dream. However, when Bad opened his mouth, Dream cut him off. The two friends stepped out of the forest into the fields, the wind picking up. Dream's dirty blonde hair blew in the wind and he brushed it back, biting his lip slightly as he opened his side pouch and dug out his mask. He slid it onto his face and tied it tightly around his hair, the thick black string holding down his hair. Through the mask, his hair didn't blow over his eyes and it gave him a better view of the landscape around, so despite the fact that he didn't quite enjoy wearing it, Dream definitely would if it was more convenient to do so. 

"We're here," He said. The mask only covered the top of his face, leaving his mouth uncovered. He had found that it was more useful like that. When the mask covered his mouth it was harder for people to hear him and that wasn't as useful as he would like it to be. The purpose of mask wasn't to make things _harder,_ but truth be told, Dream wasn't quite sure why he had his mask at all.

Ignoring those thoughts, he turned his gaze towards the horizon and tried to think about what was off the edge of the world, getting distracted and not managing to catch whatever Bad had said. At least, he was wondering why Bad was shaking him. "Bad?" he asked, blinking and stumbling half a step backwards when he was startled out of his daze.

"Dreeeeeeam," Bad whined, frowning at his friend. "I asked if you wanted to build a house. It's getting darker and I'm scared." 

Dream almost laughed, but he smiled sympathetically at Bad. "Alright, sure. What do you want to make it like?" He asked kindly, and Bad thought for a moment, staring off with his hand on his face. After a moment, Dream noticed the flashing screen in front of Bad, and laughed as he read it. Bad had disconnected, and Dream managed to swipe a few tabs up until he found discord again, and typed out a quick message to Bad.

 _You disconnected! Want to come back online or no?_ Before sending, he checked the time one more time. It was still pretty early, so it was unlikely Bad would go to sleep, but no one ever knew what Bad was thinking. He was probably one of the weirdest and most unpredictable among their group. After a moment of realizing he completely forgot to press send, Dream quickly sent the message to his friend, and then swiped the screens away as he turned his gaze to where Bad had previously been standing.

His friend was gone, but he would show up there when he reloged, so Dream sat there staring at the empty space and waiting for the familiar discord notification sound that would alert him when his friends came back online. After a few minutes, he lay down, staring up at the sky blankly.

The rain started to pour down. 

The grass shivered as the first droplets fell from the sky, a few splashing onto Dream's mask. Clouds spread across the sky as the water began to fall quicker and quicker, threatening to soak Dream if he didn't get up and move to a shelter quickly. With one more sad and disappointing look at his zero new messages, the twenty one year old stood up and sighed as he trudged back into the forest. 

He was cold, his clothes were wet, and none of his friends were online, so he decided he would build a house. He touched his head with a wet hand as he thought about Bad. He had told his friend they could build the house together, but now Bad was gone. Dream let out a soft sigh, but he began his work.

Crafting, chopping trees, and building helped distract him from his hurtful thoughts. He had something to do instead of stand there and wallow in self-pity and loneliness. He shivered slightly in the cold, but instead of stopping he clasped his cloak tighter around himself, keeping warm. As soon as he managed to get a general structure of at least one half of the house, he started to create the roof. It was painstakingly difficult. 

Dream never spent a lot of his time building, instead he would always try and beat the game and kill the dragon. He never had time to make a house, and normally George, Sapnap and Bad were there to help him, so he wasn't quite sure his build was good. After staring at the dark overhanging roof that covered part of the half-build house. He sighed, standing under the spruce wood. 

"Fuck this," he muttered to himself, sitting down on the floor with his legs pulled up tight to his chest. The sun had set through the clouds and the world was darkening as day turned into night. Dream didn't feel like building anymore, so he tugged at the pouch that was looped around his waist. The dark leather band kept it firmly in place, and he dug out some torches that he began to light and hang on the walls of the house. Dream almost set the house on fire multiple times, but when he finally got the flaming decor in place, it gave the area a warm orange glow. 

Dream stared out the empty space where the other wall should have been towards the fields. Fog covered the area, clouding Dream's vision. He slipped off his mask and clipped it to his waist, covering it with his cloak. The more his pouch filled up with things, the more convenient it was to just leave the mask out instead of trying to stuff it away and hide it. Dream let out a long sigh as he stood up and stretched, his gaze empty of emotion.

"That's it," he muttered to himself quietly, and he pressed a hand to his forehead, rubbing his eyes. Dream wasn't quite sure how much sleep he had gotten the night before, but he was sure that it wasn't a good amount. He headed into the rain, pulling up the hood on his cloak and looking around for a moment.

He needed to find something to do. Something to explore _without_ his friends. Though the horizon called to him, Dream still felt like it was wrong to go on without George. Or Sapnap, or Bad. Of all people, why did he think of George first. This was all stupid, he had to clear his head. Dream cupped his hands in the rain, catching the droplets on the tips of his fingers as the rest soaked into the bandages wrapped around his palms and forearms. He gently wiped the cold water onto his face without a word.

 _A cave,_ Dream thought simply as his gaze trailed over the trees. _I should find a cave. We're going to need materials anyway. Stone is one of them._ He took a deep breath and when he breathed out, a small cloud formed in the cold air. _And_ _Jesus Christ, I need warmer clothes,_ He thought with a small laugh to himself as he grabbed the pickaxe he had made earlier that was leaning against the spruce walls of the work-in-progress house.

Dream started forwards, stepping around the pale flowers as the rain streamed down from the heavens like tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'm not the best at this but hopefully this is good so far.
> 
> I'll try and update every other day, but if that's not managable there will definetly be a chapter posted every week. Anyway, I hope people enjoy even if it is quite horribe and strange.


	3. Echos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whooo getting more into strange plot and stuff. Trying to make the chapters longer but failing. I hope this is interesting enough still XD

Dream knew definitely made a mistake entering the cave.

The darkness swallowed him instantly, and even though he held a torch the shadows wrapped around every bend. Spiders hissed from the depths of the cave, and Dream could hear zombies growling close to him. The green-cloaked man sighed, taking off his hood and making himself a stone sword as quickly as he possibly could. Soon the mobs would come up and he would have to defend himself. 

Dream searched the walls of the cave, his eyes looking for the familiar flash of iron or any dark pieces of coal. His annoyance began to rise as he couldn't spot anything but smooth stone stretching endlessly in every direction. Just by habit, he pulled up his discord to see if he got any messages. Hope sparked in him quickly the second he saw Sapnap was online. The moment that Dream started to type out a quick message to his friend, the green icon next to his name flickered back to a dull gray.

He stared at it, biting his lip slightly, but continued typing anyway. Pressing send, he stood in the darkness for a few minutes, the soft orange glow of the torch faintly illuminating the area around him. The zombie groaning next to Dream snapped him out of it as he instantly swiped the glowing screen away and drew his sword, switching the torch to his left hand. He bitterly slashed the green skinned humanoid in the chest, tearing through its dirty cyan shirt. It snarled at him but didn't recoil, and Dream continued to slash away until it vanished in a flurry of white particles.

The twenty one year old sighed slightly before he continued walking, holding his sword because he knew there would be more mobs heading up from the darkness soon. He wasn't quite sure he would count this as 'fun', so his thoughts continued to wander throughout his mining adventure. When Dream finally spotted the pale peach iron ore, he was elated. 

Quickly mining it out, he set down a furnace to smelt the ores he had found while he continued looking. As he ventured deeper into the tunnels, the more confused he felt. Dream's mind whirled as he walked, sheathing his sword and running his hand down the stone walls. His footsteps rang out through the caverns as he approached a larger opening. 

He stared out into the darkness. The glow from the torch did almost nothing to illuminate the area, leaving most of it in complete darkness. As Dream stared out into the shadows, he squinted and was able to make out a few tunnels. A rush of cold air flooded into the cave, and Dream shivered, his eyes widening slightly as he stared forwards, his hair blowing slightly in the strange underground breeze.

The whispers started.

Dream couldn't tell what they were saying, but someone was speaking. It terrified him, yet as he stared out into the black abyss ahead of him it felt oddly comforting. He wanted to step forwards, to fall into the shadows, but he stood still instead. He wasn't sure what to do. No one else was on the server, so it was impossible for a player to be talking to him. Despite that one obvious fact, Dream wanted to believe there was someone there. That one of his friends hadn't abandoned him. 

Just to double check, his finger shakily pulled up another glowing screen, checking the online server members. _It's just me,_ He thought silently as he stared at the tab and then closed it. He was getting more and more terrified of this world. He wanted to get the hell out of there and run through the fields with George and nothing else on his mind. He didn't want these voices whispering in the depths of the ground. 

Dream swallowed hard, taking a step back. He hesitate for a moment before he pulled out a second torch, lighting it and then dropping the first one down into the cavern, watching the light to see when it faded away. The deeper the cave was, the further down the torch would go and the further the light source would become. Dream peered over the edge as he let go of the torch and stared as it plummeted downwards.

Thank god he hadn't tried to jump down.

It wasn't a cavern, it was a ravine. Dream wasn't sure exactly how far down it went, but only the faintest traces of light from the torch were visible when it hit the floor. As Dream stared downwards, a soft wind began to pick up again, blowing his hair around and making the cloaked man feel freezing cold. Voices kept murmuring in his ears, as if ghosts were reaching out to him from the bottom of the underground ravine.

As Dream shivered and stared at the torch, the faint light flickered and went out. His veins felt like they were full of ice as suddenly everything stopped and the world became silent. The whispers stopped, and the cave grew completely silent. It felt like Dream had been plunged underwater. Everything seemed muffled and he was freezing cold, pulling the torch closer to him to try and feel the warmth of the small flame.

After an unbearable moment, Dream spoke. 

"Hello?" He called out quietly, his voice echoing through the silence. Not even a monster dared to cut through the thick silence that had enveloped the cave. Or worse, something had managed to scare them off. The normally brave man trembled slightly and drew his sword, but he wasn't quite sure what to do with it. His enemy was silence itself, a concept. It wasn't tangible, and there was no way he could slice through it with a sword. That bothered him. Usually, his enemies were physical things, like people, mobs, or even both. He had never wanted to fight something as strange and irregular as silence. 

It was impossible and Dream clearly knew it.

The faint echo of Dream's wobbly 'hello' was still floating through the air, but as it faded away Dream heard something. Or someone. He couldn't tell if it was another one of those voices or if it was just his imagination. The cloaked man stared ahead and tried as hard as he possibly could to make out the words that drifted through the caves, but it was to no avail. He couldn't tell what the strange voices were saying.

 _Fuck,_ he cursed silently, whirling around and glancing back at the dark ravine once before heading back to where he came from. _I have to get the iron out of the furnace and then get the hell out of here. I need to log out, I can't deal with this shit right now._ Dream's brain was going haywire. He wasn't exactly sure what he was doing or where he was going, but he knew that he had to leave these caves as soon as possible. 

Dream lifted the torch slightly at a fork in the road as he tried to determine which of the paths he had come from, and eventually settling on the one that sloped more upwards. Most likely it would lead out, at least quicker than the less sloped path. He hoped when he got back to the surface it wouldn't be raining anymore and he could watch the sunset that night in peace. 

Without strange voices, and well . . . without friends either.

He paused for a moment, setting down his torch as he swiped open a tab a bit awkwardly with his left hand and checked his discord notifications. Dream paused for a moment to check the time, and he groaned when it said 1:37am. It had been almost three hours since Bad disconnected, and Dream didn't think he had received any messages from his friends. 

He had ten notifications.

Five were messages from Bad, the first two saying something about how Bad's internet and power went out and his phone was at low battery. He couldn't get online for at least the rest of day, and Dream sighed as he read that. He had at least hoped that maybe his friends could come back. The next three were more of apologizes where Bad seemed to get more upset the more they went on. As he read that Dream winced, feeling horrible. Why was he making his friends upset? Why was he thinking all these stupid and strange things?

He didn't know. He closed his messages with Bad, instead swiping over to his other unread messages. They were all from Sapnap, and Dream's chest tightened in the fear that his friend was saying he didn't want to play with him. Dream didn't understand why in the world he would think that, maybe because Sapnap got home from a shopping trip at around _midnight_. That was quite strange, but ignoring that Sapnap wasn't very weird. He was a funny, good guy that Dream loved to hang out with, so the green cloaked man stood in the caves as he opened their discord messages.

 _Hey dude,_ the first one read. 

_Think I could hop on the server? I saw you were online. Not sure if I really have to ask permission or can I just go online whenever I want? Anyway just message me soon, sorry I wasn't able to message you back earlier, I was sleeping._

At that line Dream had to stop. Sapnap was _sleeping_? He checked the time on the message sent. It was around 1:25am, some seventeen minutes ago. That meant Sapnap had been asleep that whole time- Dream stared at his messages, utterly confused.

He finished reading the message and skimmed over the other three that Sapnap had sent, which were just short little things that didn't matter as much to Dream. Finally, one of his friends was online for him to play with, and Dream smiled happily despite how late it was and how little sleep he had gotten the day before.

Dream yawned and then spent the next few minutes typing out a quick not-so-quick response to Sapnap. Something about how everyone could come online as long as Dream was on too. He'd be online a lot too, and his reasoning was just that he didn't want George and Sapnap to burn everything to the ground without supervision. That sounded like exactly what would end up happening, so he hoped that not letting them on by themselves would prevent that.

After that, he quickly watched Sapnap's discord icon turn green and his friend replied with a thumbs-up. A smile smile inched it's way onto Dream's face as he closed out of the tab, grabbed the torch off the ground, and headed back to the furnace to grab the iron ingots that he had smelted. He took off his cloak and wrung it out over the iron, trying to get the last of the water out of it and cool down the iron. He was able to stuff the iron into the pouch that was still strapped around his waist.

Dream clasped the cloak back around his shoulders with his white and black smiley face pin. After he did that, he left his sword in the sheathe and ran down the tunnels trying to find the way back up. He sighed as he came to a dead end, and when he turned around he heard the familiar ring of a discord call. He quickly opened a glowing screen and accepted the call.

"Oh Sapnap thank god you finally got online," Dream exclaimed in a burst of relief as soon as they were both in the call together. He swiped the screen away, making sure that he was still in the discord as he turned around and ventured down another tunnel. 

"Hey Dream," Sapnap yawned, and Dream heard the ping of his friend joining the server. "Where are you?"

"Oh- I went mining," Dream said as he glanced down a few tunnels in confusion. He knew the route he had taken to get there hadn't been that complicated, but he still was _sure_ this was the way he had come. Actually he wasn't that sure as he rounded the bend of a cave to find a wall of stone again. "I found some iron, but now I'm completely lost."

Sapnap laughed, and Dream grinned to himself as he backtracked down the tunnel and tried another approach. "Why don't you just dig your way out?" he suggested, but Dream sighed.

"Seriously, do you really think I want to spend all that time digging out a stupid tunnel?" Dream said with an overly exaggerated sigh, "I'm too lazy for that."

Sapnap laughed again, and Dream felt happiness again. He loved talking to his friends, and even though he may have talked to Bad earlier, he had still felt lonely. Now though, Sapnap was there and he felt better. Less lonely, less scared, less worried. He did have a few questions though, and he hesitated just a moment before asking, "Sapnap why did you say you were asleep?" When his friend was silent for a moment, Dream almost winced but managed to add, "Bad said you were out shopping."

"Oh," Sapnap said, a little slowly, and Dream's chest tightened. He was obviously worried for his friend, but he stayed quiet so that he could explain while Dream continued to wander through the caves. Zombies groaned in the silence and Dream could hear the creaking and clacking of skeleton's bones from deep in the darkness. "I _was_ asleep. I told Bad I was shopping so he wouldn't worry, but I didn't sleep last night. I had a test this morning that I needed to study for and I didn't get a chance to sleep. I didn't think Bad would tell anyone I was shopping, especially because it's such a lame excuse."

Dream blinked, pausing. The torch cast moving shadows and lights all over the stone walls, but nothing moved. "You didn't want us to worry- Sapnap it's fine. I'm glad you got some rest but is it ok? Your sleep schedule is already pretty messed up-"

"This is what I didn't want," Sapnap huffed in annoyance. "You guys go all parent mode, it's so annoying. I'm nineteen I can take care of myself, and it's Friday anyway. It doesn't matter."

Dream bit his lip, not wanting to annoy his friend. Of course Dream had pulled an all-nighter before, but he was still a little upset Sapnap had. He always wanted his friend to do well in class, but staying up all night wasn't something that would actually benefit Sapnap. However, Dream decided against talking about it. It didn't matter, they were playing a game now and the real world was something that Dream pushed to the back of his mind.

"Sorry," Dream said simply. "I'm heading up to the surface now," he added as he approached another tunnel. The green cloaked man stood in front of it for a moment as a soft breeze began to blow down from it. Sapnap made some noise that Dream took as a sign of an 'ok,' although he wasn't quite sure. He knew this was the way out.

Dream started up the tunnel, his hiking boots crushing tiny bits of rock under his steps. As he walked, the breeze picked up and the tunnel grew lighter. Dream sighed slightly in relief, and he set the torch against the side of the cave as he continued up. Mid-step, he heard something. One of the voices. It called to him, it reached out to him. _It said his name_. His pale green gaze turned towards the tunnels, but he continued to walk out and into the sunshine that filtered through the trees in the pine forest.

The whispers echoed behind him as he fled through the woods.


	4. Eyes Of Insanity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw man this is getting more and more chaotic as I write. Hopefully I can find a chance to get more than one person online with Dream at once, because I need more content.
> 
> Why am I like this.
> 
> Anyway- I hope you all enjoy the story, it is getting quite strange.

"Sapnap!" Dream called when he deafened on the discord call. Normally he preferred to just talk in game, but he forgot the problem of now getting back home before Sapnap got annoyed that he was taking so long.

Dream hopped through the woods, searching for the way back to the fields, when he stumbled upon a river. He stared at the water before kicking a few pebbles into it. "Oh my god I'm so lost," he muttered to himself in annoyance as he turned away from the running water and then with a slight hesitation, slid the discord tab back into view with a defeated sigh as he undeafened.

"Sapnappp," he whined, and his friend just laughed. Dream frowned, glancing around as he slid the discord screen back away so he could continue searching for the way out of the pine forest. "I'm so lost," he groaned as he walked along. His footsteps were light and he could hear birds chirping. They both annoyed him and comforted him, one side liking the fact that their singing was so beautiful, and the other half of him hating the fact that they sounded so happy while he was lost wandering around this huge forest. At least, Dream assumed it was big from the fact that he _still hadn't found the fields_.

Sapnap settled down as he asked, "How the heck did you get so far away that you couldn't hear me screaming earlier? I was yelling 'DrEAmMMM' but you didn't say anything," he asked, and Dream could practically hear the grin on his friend's face. He couldn't help but smile softly at that as well.

"I honestly don't know, I'm so lost. I think I might be able to see if I can find a tree to climb, but these trees really aren't the easiest to get up," he said, half to himself and half to his friend on the call. "I'll try it here anyway, there's not much to loose I mean."

Sapnap didn't make a noise, but Dream could picture his friend shrugging as he said "Alright."

Dream unclasped his cloak and rolled it up, sliding a thin band around the rolled up cloak and then clipping it onto a hook beside the pouch and mask hanging from his waist. The sword was sheathed across his back, so it didn't feel too uncomfortable as he began to scale up the closest tall tree he could find in the vicinity. He slid his feet up onto a knot in the bark as he climbed, reaching for each branch that he knew would support his weight. The higher up he went, the more cluttered the branches became and the more annoying it got to climb, but he could see a thick branch in the area above him. 

"Are you climbing the tree now?" Sapnap asked, and Dream yelped as his grip on the branch slipped. Sapnap had surprised him by speaking, and the green-eyed man's concentration had broken, causing his hand to slide back down from the branch he had grabbed onto. 

"Holy Fuc-" Dream was able to breathe out as he took deep gasps for air. He managed to grab onto another branch before he fell all the way down, but his hands burned from the friction how rough the annoying bark was. "Sapnap-" he heaved. "That _terrified_ me. Oh my _god_. I almost fell."

Sapnap laughed, and Dream scowled in annoyance, but he knew that deep inside, it was funny. "Sorry, you were being so quiet y'know, I was worried." As soon as Sapnap said that, Dream's frown softened, and he smiled to himself, a warm sensation spreading through his body. He actually felt honored that Sapnap was concerned about him. They were friends and Dream knew that should have been such an obvious thing, but just hearing Sapnap say it was what Dream needed to feel even happier.

He continued to reach for the next branches as he replied, inching his way closer and closer to the thick branch he could see up above. A few almost snapped under his weight, but he climbed quickly, praying to god that they wouldn't snap in his hands or beneath his feet. He spoke as he climbed, not wanting to be terrified out of his mind next time Sapnap spoke. "Nah don't worry, I'm totally fine. I caught myself before I could fall all the way down. Only lost about half a heart. That reminds me," he said suddenly as a thought struck him. 

"We need to start getting more food. I've been eating a lot of berries from in the forest, but we're going to have to start getting meat as well. A person can't live off just berries," Dream told Sapnap.

As he said that, Dream reached the branch, and grabbed onto it, sliding a leg onto one side and then pulling himself up. He sat propped up against the tree trunk, and let out a sigh of relief. "I made it up the tree by the way," Dream said, a dorky smile spreading across his face as he stared out across the land he could see. There were still a few trees and the tips of some shorter ones that blocked his vision, but he lifted a hand to block the light of the slow-rising sun as he squinted and searched for the softly glowing golden wheat that he would see the light shining on at the fields. 

"Ah I see the fields!" Dream exclaimed happily, his smile growing wider. Sapnap cheered in the background of the call. Dream felt that warm fuzzy feeling again as he smiled with his friend. It was a happy feeling and Dream absolutely loved it. He was happy that he was able to find the way home, and he loved that his friend was happy along with him.

Dream scanned the ground, searching for water that he could land in, but he didn't see any. He shrugged, deciding he would just have to retrace the way back down to the bottom of the tree. After a few moments of climbing awkwardly down the tree, Dream hopped down to the ground and yawned. He blinked and swiped up with two fingers, flicking through a few tabs before he found the time.

"Oh my god Sapnap, it's already 2:30," he sighed, rubbing his eyes slightly. "I'm _exhausted_."

"Hah, It's only 1:30 here and _I_ already slept, so I'm not tired. Nimrod," Sapnap boasted, and he could picture the huge grin on Sapnap's face. Dream rolled his eyes without a word, and headed in the direction he saw the grass in from where he had been sitting atop the tree.

"Ok, fine, whatever," Dream laughed, and he picked a few berries off a bush, popping them into his mouth. His lips smeared with red berry juice, and he wiped it off with a finger as he continued through the forest. He stepped over a few branches as his thoughts wandered.

Sapnap yawned on call and then Dream gasped in fake shock. " _Sapnap,_ I thought you weren't tired!" The green-eyed man gasped. He grinned to himself as he saw the trees began to thin out and the sunlight grew even brighter. Dream's pupils slitted as he walked out into the field.

"I'm _not_ tired, you're just making me yawn because you're so incredibly _boring_ ," Sapnap said with a sigh. Dream turned slightly, scanning the edge of the forest for his half-built house that he knew Sapnap would be standing near. When he finally spotted the spruce wooden planks in the distance he turned and hopped in that direction, his hair drifting gently in the soft breeze that waved the golden wheat stalks around him.

"I'm not boring," Dream replied, smiling softly to himself. "If I was that boring would you really be my friend? You would've stopped talking to me a long time ago."

Dream could see his friend in the distance and watched as Sapnap shrugged. "You're right, we wouldn't be here if you wereboring. You're _really_ boring." 

"Oh Sapnap you're gonna get it now," Dream said quietly as he crouched in the bushes. "Hey, leave the discord call I can get there in a minute." As he spoke the words, Dream used his hotkey to leave the call, and he slowly inched his way towards Sapnap.

As he got closer he could hear his friend calling out. "Dreeeeeeeammmmm," The nineteen year old called, his white bandanna fluttering slightly in the breeze like Dream's hair was. After just a moment of consideration, Dream unhooked the mask from his waist and slid it on, tying the string tightly around his head as he snuck up on his friend with a grin spreading under the smiley face mask.

He unsheathed his sword, planning on giving Sapnap a little scare. His footsteps slipped quietly through the bushes, and he pushed back a tiny strand of hair as he approached. Sapnap was glancing around with a slight frown on his face as he tapped his foot impatiently and waited. He had his back slightly turned, giving Dream the opportunity to slip around to his backside. Sapnap wouldn't see him coming.

Without any real planning, Dream leapt from the grass and tackled Sapnap in the back. The larger man was able to shove Sapnap, and the black haired boy stumbled as Dream whirled the wooden sword towards his friend with a smirk playing at his lips below his mask. He nicked Sapnap's cheek with the blade, and the teenager yelped, smacking the sword away.

"Dream! What the hell!" Sapnap yelled, and Dream wheezed, letting the sword clatter to the ground as he clutched his stomach. He took a deep breath, but it didn't do much as no more than a second later he burst into another fit of laughter. He looked up, taking a few more breaths and trying to calm himself down as he stood up straight.

Sapnap wiped specks of fresh red blood off of his cheek. It was dripping from a gash that Dream had left in his friend's cheek, and at seeing it Dream's laughter finally ceased completely as he tried to compose himself properly. "Sorry, sorry. In my defense, I thought it would be funny." The frown on Sapnap's face was enough to tell Dream that it wasn't as funny as he hoped it would be. "I'm sorry. What did it do, half a heart? I'm not trying to kill you, I swear." 

_Or you'd already be dead,_ Dream added silently in his head as Sapnap stared at him.

The younger male dropped his gaze slightly. "Yeah yeah, whatever," He muttered, and Dream rubbed his neck slightly, finally realizing the reason he couldn't see as well was because he was wearing his mask. He untied it from his head and slipped it back into place on his waist, turning to Sapnap and placing a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder.

They met eyes and Sapnap stared into Dream's green and purple orbs with slowly growing confusion and horror. 

"Dream," Sapnap said, the end of the word raising as if he was asking a question. He stared at his friend, his dark eyes studying Dream's own strange ones. "What happened- what happened to your eyes?"

Dream's hand instantly fluttered to his face, his hands landing on his freckled cheeks. "What- Sapnap what the hell are you talking about? Is there something wrong with my eyes? I'm completely fine, what the hell are you talking about? What the hell?" Dream repeated, his voice shaking just the slightest bit. 

Sapnap blinked at him, and Dream wasn't sure if he should be relieved or terrified that Sapnap was not replying to him instantly. His friend hesitated for a moment before reaching for the black bag he had slung across his chest. He unzipped it and Dream stared as Sapnap reached inside and pulled out a small mirror. 

Dream took it with slightly shaky fingers and stared into the piece of glass, looking into his own eyes. They weren't _normal_. Instead of a medium green color with slight hints of dark blue, they were a pale green ringed in a shimmering purple. The pupils were slitted in the middle and as he stared into them he felt they had a striking resemblance to an enderman's. He swallowed as he thought about having anything in common with the strange black creatures that stalked the night.

"Sapnap," Dream said softly. "Take it back." He slid the mirror back into his friend's hands and stared at his own bandaged and empty ones. He was shaking slightly, entirely unsure what to think. To someone else, this may not have been strange, but Dream had been playing Minecraft for around nine years and nothing about him had changed in the same way that his eyes did. He wasn't exactly sure what was going on, and the more he thought about it the more confused and terrified he became. 

"Dream are you ok?" Sapnap asked him, resting a soft hand on Dream's shoulder as the taller man stared at his hands. "If you need a minute alone- I can log off. It's ok. I lied, I am tired. Maybe I will head to sleep. Are you ok with that?" Sapnap groaned quietly, shifting just slightly. "I'm rambling again. I can come back later maybe- if you want."

Dream's only friend quickly disappeared.

He slid down to the grass and stared out at the sun as it slowly inched it's way across the sky. He pulled his knees up and buried his head in his hands. How was it that he always ended up sitting there alone? He was all alone.

And what was it with this strange place? What was it with him that was changing? What was it that was happening in this place- and why were the strange voices from the caves continuing to torment him? He thought he left them behind, and he had been trying to ignore them the whole time he spoke to Sapnap, but it was hard. They were there, almost constantly whispering things he could not decipher into his ears.

It was driving him insane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short-ish chapter. By short I mean 300 words less than usual- but anyway. I have another story idea but I really wanna finish this one first and I may be doing a story speedrun. I wrote around a thousand words of this chapter in one sitting, it's literally just a pure brain dump of ideas.
> 
> Hopefully it wasn't too confusing, boring, or just weird.
> 
> And thank you guys so much for reading, I honestly only expected like five people to see this.


	5. Thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> I'm actually not going to be updating as often because I'm in Florida right now! I won't get many chances to write so I have to do this when my brain is dead. Anyway, I'll try and at least post one more chapter while I'm on vacation.
> 
> When I get home I'll make sure to write more to make up for it to those few people who actually read this haha <3

Dream stared out at the sunset, his hands cold. George was asleep, he had scared Sapnap off, and Bad was having internet problems. He sat at the edge of the field, his head resting on his knees as his slitted purple and green eyes stared out, unfocused. Behind him, the house he had started building sat unfinished. It beckoned him to continue it, but instead Dream sat there alone. Empty. Wanting to explore the edge of the world. Wanting to fight something, to stab something and just scream. His mind whirled every time he logged into their server, and although Dream had hoped this would be a calm and happy place, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about this land. There was something strange lurking in the darkness and under the ground.

He could still hear those strange voices whispering in his head, and he knew he needed to get sleep. The night before was a nightmare and he hadn't been able to fall asleep for quite some time. Staying up until 4am wasn't good, and despite the fact that Dream knew that he was too nervous and stressed to log out then. He knew the second he took his headset off he would end up furiously searching the web for any reasoning behind his strange predicament.

However, he could feel his hands trembling and he knew it wasn't good for him. He didn't feel right. It was like something was pulling away a part of him, leaving an aching feeling right in his chest. He glanced around with a soft, uneven breath and pulled up a digital tab. 

Dream's avatar disappeared into pale purple particles as he logged out. 

-

When Dream logged onto the server at 4pm, he was met with the instant flood of messages from George and Sapnap that he had been ignoring since around four in the morning. The green-eyed man was exhausted since he had just woken up, but the twinkling stars overhead revitalized him and he began to feel a little more awake. He rubbed his eyes slightly and then stretched his cold limbs and rubbed his fingers together before he swiped up tabs to look at the messages that he had been sent.

Scrolling through discord, he stared at the sea of notifications. George had practically destroyed his notifications with a sea of worried and confused messages. Dream didn't want to read them, and he didn't want his heart to ache more. Just peeking at the latest few he felt sick. Closing George's direct messages, he swiped over to see who else had spammed him.

He scrolled past a few questions from Sapnap, mostly about if he was okay after the events of the previous night. Dream shifted slightly where he stood in the cool, gentle breeze and he tried to type out a quick reply to his friend. His hands were drifting over each letter, but despite the fact that the reply was so easy to type his finger hovered over the send button for a good five minutes.

As he stood there he was clearly aware of the voices that were swarming in to fill the growing silence. His body shivered slightly in the breeze, and his hands grew colder as the air lost it's warmth around him. The world around was dark and the stars kept getting blocked out by the clouds. The light of the moon shone faintly up above but it emitted no warmth, giving Dream little light to navigate the terrain by. As the wind kicked up around him, the green-cloaked man grew unsettled. He slid a torch out of his bag and lit it, letting the soft orange glow envelop the area.

The trees cast eerie shadows into the distance and Dream's gaze shifted around. The area unsettled him greatly, but he tried his hardest to take a deep breath and relax. He had to calm down, especially if George and Sapnap saw his messages and decided to log into the server. He didn't want his best friends seeing him like such a mess. 

_Dream . . ._ one of the voices cooed in Dream's ear. The twenty one year old's head shot up and his eyes widened, pupils slitting as that same purple tint returned to them. He didn't dare move. It felt like there were hands reaching towards him from the darkness behind, like strange creatures of evil were trapping him. Dream's hands clenched tightly as he trembled. He wanted to draw his sword, to get ready to fight, but he was terrified. He couldn't _move_.

The voice laughed.

Dream whirled around, drawing his sword. His left hand clutched the torch and his knuckles slowly turned white. His grip was too tight, and he was clearly shaking as he stared into the darkness of the night, his sword pointed towards the trees that had been behind him mere seconds ago.

If the world was paused, if time froze in that instant, Dream would have thought. He would have wondered, _Why am I so scared? This is a Minecraft world, I can't be hurt. I've been playing for years, I've beaten the game so many times. Why is this one world different? Why is this_ one _time different?  
_

_Why are these voices talking to me? Did Sapnap not hear them yesterday? Are they just in my head? Am I making them up? If I am making them up, then_ why _? There's no reasoning behind these thoughts and worries, they're just worries. These voices aren't real, they must be in my head._

_It's simple. I'm imagining this whole thing, it's all a dream. A nightmare. I'll wake up in the morning tucked in bed, safe from the world and this strange panic. Everything will be totally fine, and none of this will have mattered. It's a nightmare, that's it. Sunrise will come soon, I'll wake up soon._

Dream's hands tightened on the sword and his breathing was uneven. He was alone. He was all alone at the edge of the woods, the golden field grass rustling in the breeze behind him. Dream swallowed hard, sliding the sword back into it's sheath and this time he was unsure whether his hands were shaking due to frustration or fear. He rubbed his head and then pulled back up his tabs with a shaky hand, trying as hard as he could to ignore whatever faint voices he could hear whispering to him as he fixed up his message to Sapnap.

This time he didn't hesitate before he pressed send. He didn't want something strange to happen in the night silence around him. Strange enough, the silence didn't last long as mob noises began to fill the forest. Dream had almost forgotten about the existence of monsters like skeletons and spiders, but instead of caring or going to kill them, he closed his tabs and retreated back towards the house.

He had to unsheathe his sword to stab a few zombies on the way home, and he simply avoided the skeletons, not really wanting to get shot with any of their arrows. Dream headed back towards his half-built house, which was really only a little ways away from where Dream had spawned back in himself.

When he arrived back at the house, he was greeted with spiders using the inside as their own home. His green eyes flashed with annoyance as he stabbed them and watched them disappear into pale white particles and drop the glowing green-yellow orbs of experience. Dream collected them quickly and stored the spider eyes in his pouch. They would be useful for potions in the future but for now he really didn't care. He stared at the half of a house he had managed to build the previous day and he headed towards the corner, hanging his torch up on the wall and sitting with crossed legs stretched out across the spruce wood floor. 

The twenty one year old pulled up his messages again and closed the tab with Sapnap. His friend's icon was still offline, and so was George's so Dream ignored them for a while as he continued through his messages. For some reason, Technoblade had messaged him, and Dream tilted his head just slightly as he opened the messages.

_Hey Dream, Tommy said that you had a new server-_ Dream stared at the message, skimming through the rest of it. Techno really didn't care about it at all, he was just wondering if Tommy was getting his information from 'legitimate sources'. That sounded like something Techno would question, so Dream brushed that off. But Tommy knowing about the server? Dream was utterly bewildered. He hadn't told anyone but George, Sapnap, and Bad. And maybe he had told his sister something about it over the phone, but Drista obviously wasn't telling Tommy about their server.

Dream was pretty sure Tommy didn't even have Drista's discord, so he knew it had to be one of his friends. As he thought the sky grew lighter in game, and the sound of burning mobs grew louder outside as the whole area began to glow with the pale light of the sun. Dream knew Bad was the most likely to tell someone else about a Minecraft world, but Bad's internet was still down. He had told Dream something about discord probably not working soon either. Since then, Dream hadn't gotten any messages so he assumed that his friend's internet was still out.

So that meant it was likely George or Sapnap who told the idiot child about their world. Maybe it wasn't such a big deal though. Maybe Tommy could come on the server and maybe having a dumb child around would make Dream feel better. Or at least smarter. 

He took a deep breath. Messaging Tommy was always such a chore. He opened his messages with Tommy, instantly being greeted by one of their previous conversations where Tommy constantly insulted Dream until he had decided to just close discord completely. The green-eyed man sighed, and began to type out a simple message that the sixteen year old would hopefully not find a way to misinterpret. 

_Tommy,_ it started simply, _Techno told me that you were talking about my new Minecraft server. I was just wondering where you heard about it from. If you want to join that would also be fine. Whatever you want-_

Dream paused before adding, _Big T._

He sighed, not entirely sure that was a good thing to send to Tommy but he had already pressed the button and there was really no going back now, especially because Tommy's gray discord icon immediately switched to green and Dream saw that his young friend was typing.

He sighed as he was instantly bombarded by messages from the blonde boy. Tommy sometimes secretly reminded him of himself from back when he was younger. It always made Dream feel strange when he was talking to the European kid. He stared at the spam from Tommy as it began to calm down and Dream could actually make out what the child was saying through his terrible spelling. 

_One of your bitches told me,_ was one of the first things Dream could understand. He sighed, pressing a hand to his forehead. _I think it was that British one._

_George,_ Dream thought in an instant. He felt a little embarrassed that he instantly knew who Tommy was talking about when he said something like that, but it was just what one should learn when speaking to someone like Tommy- especially the TommyInnit himself. He could be quite annoying sometimes. It was useful to actually understand what he was saying instead of just sitting there in confusion as he spammed about very strange and unrelated topics that Dream had no idea anything about.

So George told Tommy about the server. That was basically the only thing that Dream had learned from that whole conversation that wasn't much of a conversation. Tommy spammed a little more before he stopped completely and began to act a little more seriously when he said that he would 'enjoy gheinbg on dreham's serverh' or something along those lines. It was quite funny to see Tommy's mistypes, as each one was usually more confusing and wrong than the previous. 

Dream slid away the tab and pushed it into the corner so he could continue seeing Tommy's rapid spam while he opened the server whitelist and added Tommy to it. His fingers hopped over the keyboard in a way that made him quite satisfied as he swiped that away and pulled back up discord, skimming over Tommy's unimportant spam as he typed out a simple, 'whitelisted you.'

For a moment, the world was quiet and the only thing that the green-cloaked man could hear was that strange bubbly laughter echoing in his ears from the disembodied voice inside his head. 

Tommy spammed some exclamation points and then disappeared, so Dream assumed he was opening up Minecraft. He took a deep breath and then sighed, standing up and staring out as the sky lightened and the sunshine began to filter through the beautiful spruce trees around him. The smell of pine filled the air and Dream took a deep breath of it, savoring the smell that he would usually only find around Christmas. Small bees buzzed, moving in dizzying patterns around from flower to flower as they drifted through the woods.

Birds chirped above as they swooped through the trees, singing to each other from the high branches. Small foxes and wolves began to stir as they prepared to hunt for their morning meal. Mice scurried through the fields and owls settled down to sleep and other animals began to wake or shut their eyes to get some rest. In the darkness of the underground caves below Dream's feet, purple eyes shimmered in the shadows. The cloaked man was only sure of one thing.

The world would be ruined within an hour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I have no idea how any of these guys write so uh. I know Techno's normally pretty chill but I feel like he'd be more formal with Dream for some reason so ;-; and Tommy is going to kill me, I swear. If I try and write Tommy I think I will die. Why did I add him to this story please no why. Anyway I'm trying my best. Hopefully I write more Tommy actually talking next chapter, but guys I'm not funny. I'm really not funny I can't be Tommy. 
> 
> Ok ok ok anyway, I hope you guys liked this. The voices are my favorite oh my god I actually have so many ideas right now, I'm quite excited for this.


	6. The Child

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow I actually managed to write another chapter while on vacation??

_TommyInnit joined the game._

Dream instantly flinched, the loud sound of the incoming discord call from Tommy blasting in his ears. He sighed in annoyance, remembering Tommy had never been on this server before. He answered the call reluctantly, wishing he had a little more time to prepare before he had to actually speak with another person.

He was met with the rambling child, screaming in his ears and he winced slightly. The green-eyed man instantly pulled up discord as fast as he could, lowering the volume of Tommy's voice until it was actually at a volume where he wasn't blasting his ears out.

"Dream?" He heard Tommy question, and the cloaked man blinked slightly and tried to figure out exactly what to say, but then scrapped all his prepared bits and decided just to say whatever came to mind.

"Tommy!" Dream said kindly, offering himself the smallest smile as he headed outside the house and swiped discord up so he could listen to his friend while he headed towards the spawn deep in the spruce forest. "How are you?" 

Dream didn't hear his friend's response, he was too busy getting distracted by the growing whispers in his mind and the flashes of black that he saw out of the corner of his eyes. 

" _Dream,_ pussy, bitch, fuck," Tommy started a string of curses, that snapped the twenty one year old out of his daydream-like state. He wasn't quite sure Tommy shouldn't have known all of those words, but Dream was _very_ sure he would have never said something like that at Tommy's age.

"Tommy, please stop," Dream sighed loudly, and for a second the kid actually did stop speaking. It was surprising when the sixteen year old listened to him, and a very strange change from the normal reality, where he blatantly ignored him and made fun of him whenever he spoke. That would probably start soon- actually the second Tommy got iron and flint he would burn down the whole world just to have a little bit of fun and ruin Dream's good moods.

"On this server I prefer just chatting. Could you leave the call?" He asked, in the most polite way he could think, which really wasn't very polite.

"You're just a pussy. You're too scared to talk to me," Tommy boasted, and Dream chuckled and left the call. The instant that the annoying British boy was gone the green-eyed man closed his eyes and stopped walking.

He listened. The world around him was calm but the strangers invading his mind were not. Three or four voices got louder than the others, and Dream could sense an anxious feeling pressing down on him. It was almost like the air had become twenty times denser, like a thick wool blanket trying to crush Dream under it. He was sweating, and his eyes fluttered open and he whirled around nervously, catching a glimpse of something black retreating through the forest with a pale purple trailing behind it.

Suddenly startled into action, the green-clothed man chased it into the undergrowth, crashing through the bushes and trampling leaves under his hiking boots as he dashed forwards. He was determined to catch whatever was ahead of him, and he pushed forwards, bracing himself as he ducked under trees and knocked aside branches and leaves with his forearms.

He could still see the faint trail ahead of him, but Dream knew he wasn't gaining on whatever it was that he was chasing. It was too fast and too far. However, when he burst through a clearing he found the trail of purple ending, the particles drifting to the forest floor silently and then fading away.

The green-eyed man stared down at them in dismay, unsure exactly what he was feeling or what to feel. He was definitely sad, but other than that he wasn't quite sure. The voices in his mind were pestering him. 

_What did you see?_

_Did you see him?_

_You can't catch us._

"Oi, bitch."

His head snapped up, and he came face to face with TommyInnit. The blonde boy stared at him, arms crossed and blue eyes showing his clear annoyance. Dream took a very startled step backwards, not expecting to see the child staring him in the face that quickly. The strangest thing was that he felt annoyed. Or maybe _angry_ was a better word for it. The clamoring voices in his head continued to speak over one another, making Dream feel quite overwhelmed as he tried to block them out and listen to Tommy.

He imagined them as raindrops, trying to make each one fade into the background like constant rain would have, but the thought of water made him shiver just slightly. He hoped Tommy didn't notice as he tried to silently compose himself in front of his friend. All he hoped was that Tommy wasn't streaming this.

"Hey Tommy," Dream said with an eye roll, making the teenager clench his hands slightly. It was really funny to provoke Tommy. He reminded himself again that maybe adding Tommy to the server wouldn't be a disaster. Maybe it would even be good, having someone to annoy just for his own enjoyment. It would definitely help him relax more.

"Hey what?!" Tommy exclaimed immediately, yelling at Dream in anger. "Don't roll your eyes at me, I can see you! You aren't wearing your mask!" 

At that simple line, Dream started to feel the slightest bit uncomfortable, and he slid his mask out and slipped it onto his head, tying the string tight and keeping the delicate porcelain suspended over his facial features. 

"Oh- _now_ you put it on!" Tommy huffed angrily, and Dream laughed, grinning to himself and pleased that Tommy could no longer read his emotions right off his face. He felt much more comfortable with the mask on. It was more like he was safely at home and he could just relax and be himself. Looking directly at Tommy's blue eyes no longer made him feel aggravated or uneasy as it had done previously. "You're just copying what I say because I'm smart and I have good ideas!"

Dream rolled his eyes again, although Tommy couldn't see them from behind the mask, but he could see Dream's mouth break into a wide grin after the British boy spoke. "Oh yeah, of course. You have the most _incredible_ ideas," Dream said in a mocking tone.

He could tell Tommy was mad but the blonde boy struggled to keep his temper down and reply calmly to his friend. "Yes, yes I do. Thank you for the compliment my American friend."

Dream wheezed, which sent Tommy into one of his cursing fits that Dream continued to laugh all the way through. He rubbed his eyes, wiping away the beginnings of tears and watching as Tommy struggled to keep his laughs silent. Even if Tommy was streaming this he really didn't care anymore. It was funny from his perspective, the viewers would probably find it funny too. Although there always was something a little strange about being watched by two hundred thousand people.

He always wondered what they were doing with their lives, but he was thankful that they supported him and his friends. Dream really did care about them, even if they thought he just saw them as a number. Maybe sometimes he did see them as a number, but it was hard not being able to care about each one individually. There were just too many, but he could be thankful for their support no matter what.

Dream tried to stop laughing so that he could show Tommy to the fields, and the child had also calmed down and was starting to relax a little more. "Want to see the fields that we've started building at? Well- that we're going to start building at," Dream said, a bit embarrassed that his house was the only one there so far and it was so ugly despite the fact that it was only half-finished. 

"Alright," Tommy said, sounding very indifferent, so Dream turned back the way he had come from and started heading through the bushes he had ran through to get there. Tommy was rambling about something Wilbur had been talking to him about, but Dream was only half listening. He nodded along slightly to the child but his eyes were unfocused and he was thinking hard about those shadows and those voices he had heard. 

He thought about what one said. _You can't catch us,_ Dream thought silently, repeating what that one voice had whispered in his head. _What does it mean? Are the voices that I'm hearing actually physical beings?_ Dream was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice as a zombie leapt out of the bushes and started attacking Tommy.

The British child screamed, which when Dream heard he winced. "What the _hell_ Tommy- What are you yelling about?" He grumbled, and he turned around to see Tommy screeching his head off and running around in circles, trying to hit the stupid green zombie with his fists. 

"DREAAAAAMMMM, KILL IT!" He yelped as he ran around and Dream started wheezing, a grin spreading across his face. He didn't really feel like killing the zombie, since he liked watching Tommy freak out like that, but he did want to be nice to the one person who was actually online at the time.

He slid the iron sword he had made previously with the iron he had mined the day before out of it's sheath and stabbed the zombie in the back repeatedly as it tried to chase the younger blonde boy. Tommy sighed dramatically in relief and a small grin played at Dream's lips. "Are you happy now?" he asked the younger blonde.

"I was totally fine the whole time, I had it under control," Tommy immediately lied, and Dream laughed, which made Tommy smile slightly as well. "Oh Dream, Techno has been messaging me for a while- do you think I could just call him for a minute? He's literally spamming me."

Dream blinked slightly. " _Technoblade_ is spamming you?" He said, slightly confused about why Techno of all people would spam Tommy. Technoblade never seemed like the type of person to spam, whereas Tommy was always the one spamming. It was like their roles had been switched, and it was making Dream slightly worried although he wasn't very sure why.

_Technoblade._

_Who?_

The voices in Dream's mind seemed to be having a conversation of their own, and it was starting to give him a throbbing headache. He raised a hand to his head, but forgot his mask was on and quickly lowered his hand back down, feeling stupid. He stood there staring at Tommy for a second while he nodded in response to Dream's question.

"If you call him do you think you could add me to the call too?" Dream asked, knowing it may be a slightly strange request but hoping Tommy would agree to it without much deep thought or any worries. They were friends and they had all known each other for quite a while now.

Tommy shrugged. "Yeah sure whatever," He said, and Dream watched as Tommy swiped up with two fingers and opened a glowing tab that Dream was pretty sure was discord. The dirty blonde twenty one year old also swiped up his own discord tab, waiting for the call he knew he would receive from the boy that was standing in front of him.

The familiar ring of the call didn't have the opportunity to startle Dream this time, as he opened the call the instant that it started to ring. He sat with Tommy in silence in the call for a few seconds as they continued to wait for Techno to join the vc.

Dream waited impatiently for the youtuber to join the call, his foot tapping on the ground in game. A muted button flashed next to Tommy as his avatar stared idly at the glowing screen in front of him, and he thought for a short moment about how that was how they looked daily. Just people staring at their screens, talking to no one in particular except themselves. Dream silently reminded himself he wasn't alone any more. The beginning of his Youtube career had definitely been the worst, when he was trying to make interesting videos all on his own with no one to talk to. Now he had friends, and a whole community of fans. It was wild to think about. 

His thoughts continued to wander about as Tommy spam-called Techno. 

Finally, Dream was startled out of his mind by the sound of someone joining their call. It was Technoblade, who had finally decided to show up and join in whatever lovely conversation they were going to be having. Dream still hadn't decided what to say.

"Hulloooo," Techno said the instant he joined the call, and Tommy laughed.

"Why do you say that every time you enter a call? Just say something like 'hey'," The British boy said, and Dream watched as he smiled to himself, and Dream faked a smile before he remembered he still had his mask on so he didn't have to do that. It made him relax his tense shoulders as he sat down and glanced around the world as he listened to Techno and Tommy arguing.

"Oh hey Dream," Techno added, having not addressing the green-eyed man specifically in their whole conversation. For a moment, Dream was still distracted. Whispers grew louder and quieter and his headache kept getting worse and worse.

_I think he knows,_ one of the voices in his mind whispered, echoing over all the rest. They all fell silent after a few moments and Dream's brain struggled to come up with a reply. He just didn't feel like speaking, and instantly knew that asking Tommy to add him to the vc was a bad idea. "Hi Techno," he said simply, knowing there were so many other things he wanted to say but not knowing how he wanted to say them. 

Technoblade had a solution to Dream's problem though.

"Hey Tommy can Dream and I have a moment of privacy?" the Californian man asked, and Tommy practically growled in annoyance. It made Dream feel the slightest bit amused, but he didn't manage to laugh or smile. He was too tense for that. Although he was thankful and even a little happy that Techno had requested to speak to him alone, he wondered exactly _why_.

Dream was the one who wanted to speak with Techno, it wasn't the other way around. Or maybe this whole situation had been created by Techno's _one_ dm. It started the whole chain of events, Tommy joining the server and blabbing to all his friends. Soon it would just become another smp server, something Dream really hoped did not happen. He just wanted peace. A place to relax.

Tommy gave up. 

"Fine," he huffed angrily, and the child disconnected from the vc with angry muttering being the last thing that Dream heard. He made sure he was deafened in game, since Tommy had gotten up and unmuted himself. The British boy was stomping around talking angrily to himself from what Dream could tell. He wasn't quite good at lipreading though so he was unsure exactly what Tommy was saying.

"What did you want to talk about?" Dream asked after a minute of them sitting in complete silence. Techno waited a second before replying to his old friend.

"Dream, something's wrong. Tell me what it is," Techno said. It was almost like Dream was sitting in front of him at a table. Like the pink-haired man was leaning forwards with his hands clasped and his eyes narrowed. It unnerved him, and he didn't reply as Techno seemed to move closer to his microphone as he whispered. "It's something in your head, isn't it?"

Dream didn't dare open his mouth. He stayed sitting on the grass staring at the bushes in front of him and fixing his eyes on the red berries, imagining they were targets that he could shoot. He imagined them as his problems, as the voices in his head. He imagined he could shoot them and kill them without any problem. If it was that simple he would have already done that. He wasn't sure what to say, or what to do, but without any more hesitation, he replied.

"Yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much happens in this chapter except at the end lol.   
> Honestly I'm trying to come up with more ideas, but I still have a lot planned out. The problem is I have too many ideas to fit into the story so now I have to decide which ones to use lmao.


End file.
